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Thursday, November 21, 2013
Science
International
Associated Press Writer
NASA launches robotic explorer to Mars
AP Photo/NASA, Bill Ingalls
This photo provided by NASA shows a full moon rising behind the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft onboard at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — NASA’s newest robotic explorer, Maven, rocketed toward Mars on Monday on a quest to unravel the ancient mystery of the red planet’s radical climate change.
AP Photo/GEOMAR, Karen Hissmann
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Bali Post SEMARAPURA - Transmission of HIV/AIDS is increasingly apprehensive lately. Ironically, amid the threats, the attempt to prevent or at least to suppress the transmission was minimal. As happened in Klungkung County, the results of estimation made by several related agencies and institutions in Bali indicated that approximately 1,800 people were living with HIV/ AIDS in Klungkung.
Associated Press Writer
This undated photo provided by GEOMAR shows a Norwegin coral reef with gorgonian and stony corals in Norway. A new international report released Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013, reports that greenhouse gases are making the world’s oceans hot, sour and breathless, and the way those changes work together is creating a grimmer outlook for global waters.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Transmission of HIV/AIDS increasingly worrying
Zooplankton decline reported in North Atlantic PORTLAND, Maine — The microscopic creatures that make up a critical link in the ocean food chain declined dramatically the first half of this year in the North Atlantic as ocean temperatures remained among the warmest on record, U.S. scientists say. Springtime plankton blooms off the coast of northern New England were well below average this year, leading to the lowest levels ever seen for the tiny organisms, said Kevin Friedland, a marine scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The absence of the normal surge of plankton in the spring is a concern because that’s when cod and haddock and many other species produce offspring, Friedland said. “The first six months of 2013 can be characterized by new extremes in the physical and biological environment,” Friedland said. The findings come after temperatures off the Northeast U.S. hit an all-time high in 2012. This year, sea surface temperatures during the first six months in the North and Middle Atlantic remained the third warmest on record, Friedland said. The data remains in line with an overall warming of the ocean. The warming ocean worries many fishermen in the North Atlantic. Warm water was blamed for lobsters shedding their shells far earlier than usual in 2012, leading to a glut that caused prices to plummet and created turmoil in the industry in Maine and Canada. Fishermen across New England also have reported finding fish in their nets that are normally found far to the south. Bob Nudd, a lobsterman in New Hampshire, said he’s seeing plenty of black sea bass, a species that he used to see only occasionally. He’s also seeing more shell disease in lobster, something many fishermen blame on the warmer temperatures. “I’m not a scientist and I don’t know how much temperature change it takes to change the system, but I don’t think it’s much. And we’re definitely seeing a warming trend,” said Nudd, 66. “Things are not going to be the way they were in the past. That’s about all I can say about that.”
Bali News
International
The Maven spacecraft is due at Mars next fall following a journey of more than 440 million miles (700 million kilometers). Scientists want to know why Mars went from being warm and wet during its first billion year to cold and dry today. The early Martian atmosphere was thick enough to hold water and possibly support microbial life. But much of that atmosphere may have been lost to space, eroded by the sun. Maven set off through a cloudy sky Monday afternoon in its effort to provide answers. An unmanned Atlas V rocket put the spacecraft on the proper course for Mars, and launch controllers applauded and shook hands over the success. An estimated 10,000 NASA guests gathered for the launch, the most exciting one of the year from Cape Canaveral. The University of Colorado at Boulder, which is leading the Maven effort, was represented by a couple thousand people. “We’re just excited right now
and hoping for the best,” said the university’s Bruce Jakosky, principal scientist for Maven. To help solve this environmental puzzle at the neighboring planet, Maven will spend an entire Earth year measuring atmospheric gases once it reaches Mars on Sept. 22, 2014. This is NASA’s 21st mission to Mars since the 1960s. But it’s the first one devoted to studying the Martian upper atmosphere. The mission costs $671 million. Maven — short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, with a capital “N’’ in EvolutioN — bears eight science instruments. The spacecraft, at 5,410 pounds (2,450 kilograms), weighs as much as an SUV. From solar wingtip to wingtip, it stretches 37.5 feet (11.4 meters), about the length of a school bus. Aquestion underlying all of NASA’s Mars missions to date is whether life could have started on what now seems to be a barren world. “We don’t have that answer yet,
and that’s all part of our quest for trying to answer, ‘Are we alone in the universe?’ in a much broader sense,” said John Grunsfeld, NASA’s science mission director. Unlike the 2011-launched Curiosity rover, Maven will conduct its experiments from orbit around Mars. Maven will dip as low as 78 miles (125 kilometers) above the Martian surface, sampling the atmosphere. The lopsided orbit will stretch as high as 3,864 miles (6,218 kilometers). Curiosity’s odometer reads 2.6 miles (4.2 kilometers) after more than a year of roving the red planet. An astronaut could accomplish that distance in about a day on the Martian surface, Grunsfeld noted. Grunsfeld, a former astronaut, said considerable technology is needed, however, before humans can fly to Mars in the 2030s, NASA’s ultimate objective. Mars remains an intimidating target even for robotic craft, more than 50 years after the world’s first shot at the red planet. Fourteen of NASA’s previous 20 missions to Mars have succeeded, beginning with the 1964launched Mariner 4, a Martian flyby. The U.S. hasn’t logged a Mars failure, in fact, since the late 1990s.
It was revealed by Chairman of the AIDS Mitigation Commission (KPA) of Klungkung, Wayan Sumanaya, when met in his office, Tuesday (Nov 19). Sumanaya said the number of AIDS patient was the result of estimation (survey) by Bali Health Agency, Klungkung County, KPA Bali, KPA Klungkung and NGOs. However, it was just the estimation. Meanwhile, people could be stated to suffer from HIV/ AIDS when their white blood cells had been detected based on laboratory results. He asserted that from the estimation of 1,800s, a total of 191 patients had been declared to be positively affected by HIV/AIDS in Klungkung spreading across four subdistricts in Klungkung. “They are mostly in Klungkung subdistrict,” he said. Sumanaya said that of the 191 people living with HIV/ AIDS, apparently the case of 130 patients was transmitted by commercial sex worker (PSK) recently thronging Klungkung region. Most of the victims of the HIV/AIDS, he said, were truck drivers. “The transmission by commercial sex workers is more vulnerable to attack truck drivers lately,” he said. Aside from the prostitutes, his
party also noted that nine HIV/ AIDS cases were spread from mother to baby and nine other cases happened due to drug abuse. Nevertheless, additional new cases of HIV/AIDS in recent years came from prostitutes. Besides, more and more prostitutes thronged Klungkung. At least, it was indicated by the rampant establishment of dimly lit cafés peddling service plus prostitution practices uncontrollably. Not only that, the former quarry had long been suspected to be the location of prostitutes. So far, there had not been any significant solution, at least to suppress the transmission. Even, prostitute sheds increasingly proliferated in the former quarry. He admitted to have made ??various efforts to suppress the rapid transmission of HIV/AIDS, both in the form of outreach to villages and distribution of free condoms that so far was still considered a controversial policy. However, limited budget and low public awareness of the hazards of the HIV/AIDS threat had caused the effort to look fruitless. In practice, the case was getting more widespread and more difficult to control. The Regent of Klungkung, Tjokorda Gede Agung, also recognized the difficulty to at
IBP/File Photo
Activists doing HIV/AIDS awarness campaign. Transmission of HIV/AIDS is increasingly apprehensive lately. Ironically, amid the threats, the attempt to prevent or at least to suppress the transmission was minimal. least stem the spread of the HIV/ AIDS. “Indeed, it is very difficult to eliminate as a whole. These issues need to be addressed together by the government and customary village. If customary village sees any indi-
cation that a café will be established for prostitution in its territory, it must dare to reject it,” he said. Indeed, the HIV/AIDS case continued to show off an increasing trend. Previously, a total of 159 cases were noted during the period of 2002 to
August 2012. The data were based on the results of Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT), 19 cases of Zero Survey and 19 cases of blood screening at blood transfusion unit in the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) of Klungkung. (kmb31)
Total hawkers in Kintamani estimated to increase Bali Post
IBP/Swasrina
The number of hawkers peddling so far in the area of Kintamani, Bangli, is estimated to increase.
BANGLI - The number of hawkers peddling so far in the area of ??Kintamani, Bangli, is estimated to increase. Latest data owned by the Bangli Culture and Tourism Agency in 2011 indicated the number of hawker was 615 people. They scattered in several locations in the area of tourist attractions such as the restaurant, Kedisan pier and Penelokan. “In the near future, we will make data collection. Possibly, the current number of hawker has been growing,” said the Division Head of Tourism Development and Promotion, Wayan Merta. He said that to restore the image of Kintamani in the eyes of travelers having been tarnished due to the action of hawkers frequently interfering with travelers, his party planned to undertake a
restructuring. Other than providing guidance, his party also planned to immediately relocate the hawkers to location like a shop currently being prepared by local government. As planned, when everything had been ready, hundreds of those hawkers roaming around at Penelokan would be relocated to the existing shops located in the west of the road. It was intended in order the hawkers could be more orderly and well organized. “When the location has been ready, then we will relocate the hawkers. Hopefully, it can be enough to accommodate hundreds of those traders,” he said. Such relocation, added Merta, would also be made ??to hawkers operating at Kedisan pier. However, his party was still waiting for the land that could be taken advantage to accommodate them. To arrange
it, all this time his party had been working with local community leaders. “We’ll propose this plan. Now, it remains in the exploratory stage. Hopefully, as proposed the hawkers can be accommodated at a decent location,” he said. Meanwhile, based on field observation, the coercion committed by hawkers to travelers still frequently occurred. Though having been given an identity card by Bangli government as identification, not all hawkers in Kintamani put on it. “Indeed, many hawkers do not put on their identity card. When asked, some said if their identity card was damaged, while others claimed if theirs has lost. But when the fund has been available, we’ll make the new one for them. By all means, we’ll make data collection of those hawkers first,” he added. (ina)